Downtown routing and bus stops will be updated in order to keep people moving during long-term construction along the Seattle waterfront and in the SODO area.

“Bus riders across Metro’s service area should check winter schedules for the routes they use most often to see what’s new,” a news release from Metro advises. “They can prepare by picking up a new blue timetable and the Special Rider Alert brochure, which is also posted on Metro Online. Or, use the online Trip Planner for some advance research. Be sure to input a date of Feb. 5 or later, when using the Trip Planner.”

Some of the upcoming changes for bus riders in the Green Lake, Wallingford and Phinney Ridge areas include:

Northbound Route 16 and Route 66 trips to Northgate will leave downtown Seattle from a new bus stop at the Colman Ferry Dock on Alaskan Way south of Marion Street;

There is a trip deletion and schedule changes for the Route 45;

There are schedule changes for Route 46;

In downtown Seattle, there are other bus routes shifting from First Avenue to Third Avenue; from Third Avenue to Second/Fourth avenues; and new bus stop locations on Third Avenue for several routes. This affects several local routes traveling into downtown; and

Route 99 will loop to travel north on First Avenue and south on Alaskan Way, and buses will no longer be “wrapped” to look like the old waterfront streetcars.

Metro updates its routes and scheduling three times a year to improve service and keep up with the changing needs of transit customers.